A <i>p</i>-type Heusler compound: Growth, structure, and properties of epitaxial thin NiYBi films on MgO(100)

Abstract

Epitaxial semiconducting NiYBi thin films were directly prepared on MgO(100)\nsubstrates by magnetron sputtering. The intensity ratio of the (200) and (400)\ndiffraction peaks, I(200)/I(400) = 2.93, was close to the theoretical value\n(3.03). The electronic structure of NiYBi was calculated using WIEN2k and a\nnarrow indirect band gap of width 210 meV was found. The valence band spectra\nof the films obtained by linear dichroism in hard X-ray photoelectron\nspectroscopy exhibit clear structures that are in good agreement with the\ncalculated band structure of NiYBi.\n